Financing climate adaptation in France: Blunomy contributes to a landmark IFD report

Why this report matters

France is facing a warming scenario of up to +4°C by 2100. Adaptation is no longer a long-term concern, it is an immediate economic, financial and social imperative.

The numbers are unambiguous: every euro invested in adaptation avoids up to €10.5 in damages. The adaptation market already represents an estimated €80 billion in revenue in France in 2024. Yet investment needs reach €10.6 billion per year until 2050, against only €1.7 billion in public funding mobilised in 2025. Unlocking private finance is therefore the central challenge.

Built on over 80 hearings and the contributions of more than 150 stakeholders, companies, financial institutions, public authorities and experts, over the course of a year, the report provides a clear-eyed assessment of where France stands and where it needs to go.

What the report finds

The picture is nuanced. Promising initiatives are emerging, from large corporates beginning to structure dedicated adaptation strategies, to banks, insurers and asset managers developing innovative financing tools and insurance products. Yet these efforts remain fragmented, and several structural barriers stand in the way of scaling:

• Most companies have yet to engage in a structured adaptation approach, held back by a lack of accessible diagnostic tools and common frameworks to value resilience in investment decisions.
• Financial actors lack robust, comparable ESG data on adaptation and sufficiently structured projects to deploy significant volumes of capital.
• The insurance sector, on the frontline of escalating climate losses, needs regulatory evolution to strengthen prevention alongside the existing Cat-Nat framework.

The IFD report calls for two coordinated responses: building a shared vision of risks and investment needs, including a national risk mapping and territory-by-territory investment planning — and aligning public and private financing through expanded guarantee mechanisms, tax incentives for adaptation investment, and the potential creation of a dedicated "Fonds Objectif Adaptation" managed by the Caisse des Dépôts.

Blunomy's contribution

Blunomy contributed to this work in two complementary ways.

As a member of the IFD Working Group on Financing Solutions for the Ecological Transition —Adaptation, we brought our expertise in energy, climate and environmental strategy to help shape the report's analysis and recommendations.

We also partnered with Société Générale to develop and deploy CARE (Climate Adaptation & Resilience Evaluation), a toolkit to transform physical climate risks into actionable strategic and financing opportunities. CARE translates physical climate risk into actionable strategic insight, helping companies move from risk awareness to structured investment decisions.

This dual contribution reflects what we believe is essential: adaptation finance only scales when the analytical frameworks, the financial instruments and the strategic dialogue between companies and their financiers are built together.

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More information on the IFD website: L’Institut de la finance durable publie son rapport « Une France à +4°C : financer l’adaptation de l’économie au changement climatique » - Institut de la finance durable

Read the full report: IFD Une France a 4 C financer ladaptation de leconomie au changement climatique - Institut de la finance durable

For more on Blunomy's work on climate adaptation strategy and the CARE methodology, get in touch with our team.